News
16 Nov 2021 About INITIATE

Top Management Team of Fertiberia Visits Swerim’s Gas Processing Pilot Plant

Late last week, the top management team of Grupo Fertiberia led by its CEO Javier Goñi, visited the INITIATE partner’s Swerim AB gas processing pilot plant in Lulea, northern Sweden, in the framework of their investment plans to build an NH3 plant based on green hydrogen.

The visit, which also saw the participation of Invest in Norrbotten and the INITIATE partners TNO, SWERIM and Stamicarbon, was the opportunity for the delegations to discuss the production of ammonia and urea from residual steel gases: one of the major objectives of our project.

INITIATE aims at demonstrating industrial symbiosis by using residual carbon-rich gas from the iron and steel industry as a valuable feedstock for the chemical sector. The Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 7 piloting combines the continuous production of N2 + H2 and CO2 streams with the innovative ammonia production as a precursor for urea, to be used as fertilizer and AdBlue®.

The Grupo Fertiberia was established in 1995 and is currently one of the main fertiliser producers in the European Union, occupying a leading position on the Iberian Peninsula. Its activities are focused on developing, producing and marketing both traditional and special crop nutrition solutions for all kinds of crops and environmental solutions for reducing greenhouse gases.

Grupo Fertiberia is also part of the INITIATE External Advisory Board. The consortium is discussing future collaboration with Grupo Fertiberia for the roll-out of the INITIATE concept into a first-of-a-kind production plant for ammonia and urea. In fact, for the fertilisers sector, Ad Blue Market, fuel refineries, and the shipping industry, the INITIATE technology could not only represent a new business model, providing relevant economic benefits but could also support them to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and move away from fossil resources.